Customer Reviews

Maigret Has Scruples

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A man comes to the Quai des Orfèvres to tell Maigret that his wife is trying to poison him. He's the head salesman in the toy department of a big store. His wife sells lingerie in a high-end boutique.

Lots of cranks want to see the chief inspector and never get past the door, but it's a slack period in the office, and so Maigret listens, with half an ear, to the curious complaint of Xavier Marton.

Later in the day his elegant wife shows up to inquire about her husband's visit. She describes Xavier Marton as an overworked, despondent man who needs psychiatric help.

Intrigued, Maigret surreptitiously skims a volume on psychiatry. He goes from neuroses to psychoses to paranoia, finding that the symptoms under any given heading might apply to both husband and wife. The potential victim of their mutual hatred could be either of them!

Maigret is admonished by the Public Prosecutor not to waste time on a non-crime. But his scruples will not let him rest.

Ultimately who dies, and why, may or may not be a surprise. But it's the contrast between Maigret's loving marriage and the hateful atmosphere of the Marton marriage that makes this book so fascinating.

There are subtle touches here that will reward the careful reader. Maigret fans should not miss this one.

A mild-mannered Paris toy salesman seems an unlikely candidate for murder. Nevertheless, he has come to ask Maigret's help -- convinced his wife is planning to poison him with white phosphide. Is he a lunatic, a manipulator -- or a victim? Maigret finds himself pulled into one of the most difficult investigations of his career -- to determine the cause of a murder that has not yet been committed. The counterpoint explores Maigret's own relationship with his wife, his feelings about love and aging, and the scruples that make him unable to turn away from this seemingly minor matter. Simenon's deft handling of events and personalities makes this an exceptionally enjoyable novel. Paris may be half a world away, but visiting a Simenon novel is like dropping into the Taverne Pousset for a extra jeton or two. But like an aperitif -- it is over too quickly. -- JD

As most of the reviewers have described, this is a mystery about who is going to be killed as much as who is the killer. In an unusual period of calm at the Quai des Orfevres, the reader gets an opportunity to see more of the interactions among its inhabitants against a background of general boredom. It's that boredom that allows Maigret to become involved in the machinations of the Martons, he an expert in electric trains, and she a sales lady of expensive lingerie. Both seem to fear that one of them will be murdered by the other.

As is usually the case with Maigret, the psychological interplays are at the core. Maigret and the Martons and her sister, Maigret and the Director, the inspectors and Maigret, and of equal importance, Maigret and Mrs. Maigret. The cast is still rather small, even so. And the contrast in the relationship of the Martons and that of the Maigrets is poignant, indeed.

Like nearly all of the Maigret mysteries, Maigret Has Scruples has the same charm and introspection. It is one of the newer novellas, but it is fresh enough to enjoy. Like the Napoleon Bonaparte mysteries by Arthur Upfield, they are always a pleasure to read in spite of their overall age and the somewhat exotic locales.

As one of the later Maigret novels, I think this sometimes gets written off as something Simenon cobbled together hastily. It's more reflective than usual, but the mystery is tight and succinct. The contrasts between Maigret and his wife with the toy salesman and his wife are poignant and revealing. The setup is unusually good - a slow day at the office produces a fine problem. The toy salesman thinks his wife wants to do him in. The wife insists that he's crazy and is trying to harm her. Who to believe?

The resulting death I shall let the book reveal, but with such a small cast of suspects, Simenon produces a clever twist that is psychologically and dramatically satisfying. Character and story move forward with Simenon's typically economic style.

Maigret is experiencing a seasonal slowdown in the business of crime, so his attention is diverted by a nervous and mild-mannered Paris electric train salesman who comes to see him about a small matter of domestic discord. It seems this gentleman's wife is planning to kill him via a quick-acting poison, or so he says, but when Maigret is called out of his office for a moment, the caller is gone. Shortly thereafter, the caller's wife herself pays a visit and conveys to Maigret that her husband is a bit of a lunatic, suffering from an inferiority complex and other insecurities which are deluding him into thinking he's being hunted. In spite of himself, and in the absence of any actual crime, Maigret pursues the matter, against the wishes of his own superiors. Along the way, we discover the little but treasured comforts of Maigret's own domestic life as they contrast to the unhappy circumstances of his visitors.
This is a quick entertainment, something Simenon probably rattled off in a couple of weeks. Its plot and characters are almost hackneyed at this point, but the irony is that Simenon himself was the original creator of this and many other plots and characters, and to him goes the credit and the glory of creating a formula that many have imitated, but few have advanced the way he did.
Overall, for me this work is certainly diverting and enjoyable, but not exceptional.